Brondello exit: When a picture is worth a thousand words

• ‍Sandy Brondello out at New York Liberty‍
• Breanna Stewart's brutal response to Sandy question‍
• The Rise and Rise of Sandy Brondello

Surely, the only explanation is Sandy Brondello didn't want to coach the 2024 WNBA champion New York Liberty in 2026.

Surely.

Why else would statement about the decision to not renew the Australian Opals head coach's contract include this exceptional endorsement and recognition of her four years in New York: "Sandy finishes her tenure in New York as the winningest coach in franchise history, and she took us to never-before-seen heights as the first head coach to lead the Liberty to a championship."

Unfortunately, the last sentence in her last press conference after losing to Phoenix Mercury in the first round of the WNBA playoffs over the weekend reveals otherwise.

"We're disappointed — we wanted to try to win another one. We know that's really hard. But there's a lot you can learn as you prepare to move forward into a new season," Brondello said from the podium after losing 2-1 to the Mercury.

That final comment reveals a lot. Brondello was already thinking about 2026 ... with the Liberty. Management, it seems, was not.

Sandy Brondello's coaching resume at the Liberty

• Tenure: 4 seasons (2022-2025).
• Regular season record: 107 wins, 53 losses. (.668)
• Playoffs record: 16 wins, 11 losses in the postseason.
• 2024 WNBA Champions
• 2023 WNBA Finalists

New York, Fair Dinkum. What a sporting town it is. Across the street, the New York Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau unceremoniously after the Knicks lost in seven games to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals this year.

And now the Liberty haven't renewed Australian Opals head coach and two-time WNBA championship coach Brondello's contract for the 2026 season.

Brondello, 57, is widely regarded as one of the best basketball coaches in the world, is an Olympic bronze medallist as a coach and two-time silver medallist and bronze medallist as a player.

She won two of every three games at the Liberty in her four years leading the team and she clearly had the support of its superstar player Breanna Stewart.

"To anybody that questions Sandy being here — this is a resilient group, and she has our back and we have hers," Stewart declared at the post game press conference.

"The way she dealt with the cards she was dealt was incredible.

"It wasn’t easy for anybody, but she came in every day with a positive attitude and mindset to put us in the best positions possible.

"We’re not going to be a team that points fingers. A lot of us could have done better this season, but we’re still going to fight and show up for each other every single day.

"That’s what’s most important. We have Sandy’s back."

Brondello addressed the Liberty's early exit in 2025 at the same press conference.

"Obviously we didn't live up to our expectations that we set out for ourselves being the defending champions," she admitted.

"It was hard to get any kind of rhythm. We faced so much adversity. I've had injuries with players before, but not quite like this year.

"Proud of these players — we hung in there. There were games when we knew we could be better and we weren’t. That's on us, finding more consistency regardless of who's on the court.

The adversity Brondello was referring to was Stewart and 2024 WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones both missed 13 games, star guard Sabrina Ionescu missed six and starter Betnijah Laney-Hamilton the entire season with a knee injury.

New York still went 27-17 and finished 5th.

How does a coach go from winning the 2024 WNBA championship, being named 2025 WNBA All-Star coach, gets to the team to 9-0 to start their title defense before injuries struck not have their contract renewed for the following season.

The last word belongs to Stewart as she left the podium moments after being asked about Brondello's on Saturday: "I’m not saying I’ll get fined."